Thames Water apologies for A10 ‘failures’

Thames Water has apologised to motorists after the A10 Bishopsgate was “gridlocked” this morning after the company failed to reinstate the carriageway surface after emergency repairs last night at the junction of Threadneedle Street.

The capital’s transport authority Transport for London has complained that, although repairs to a leaking main were completed by 5am this morning, “poor coordination of suppliers” meant reinstatement of the carriageway continued until late morning causing “serious disruption” to traffic.

TfL Commissioner Peter Hendy said he was “furious” that Londoners had been ” let down on a number of occasions by Thames Water when it comes to reinstating emergency works on London’s key Arterial roads.”

Hendy branded disruption to the roads as “a broadside attack against our plans to smooth traffic flow across the Capital” and called on Thames Water to improve its coordination of contractors “to ensure they are working for London, not against.”

A spokesperson for Thames Water said the firm were “really sorry” for disruption, adding: “We always do everything possible to keep disruption to an absolute minimum. This clearly didn’t happen here.

“We are investigating what went wrong to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”